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Bereavement

“My initial involvement with Louise and her team came about as a result of my father passing away. It was many years ago now but I remember feeling extremely stressed. On my father’s death two Trusts had been created – a Nil Rate Band Trust and a Life Interest Trust (to create an income for my mum). It was all well and good that the Trusts had been set up by our solicitors but in terms of how the money should be invested, how our family stayed on the right side of the tax man and all the Trustee implications was quite a another thing!”

“Mum and I saw several Financial Advisors but none of them appeared to know much about Trusts and certainly no one gave the impression that they could ‘knit’ everything together for us. We were just an ordinary family with no experience of Trusts or financial investment who knew we had done the right thing to structure mum and dads money in the best possible way but had no clue what to do next. A solicitor who came into the pub I worked at told me about Louise and recommended her to me because she had a lot of experience with Trusts. Mum and I met Louise and from the offset she was friendly, knowledgable and professional. It was never all about the investment and how much she could grow your money, it was about tax efficiency, the income my mum had and how much it needed topping up, my mum’s risk profile, the lifestyle she wanted to have. Just as importantly to me she helped us to find an accountant who knew about Trusts and kept us on the straight and narrow in terms of our responsibilities with regard to being Trustees. When she left after that first meeting both mum and I agreed immediately that we wanted to ‘go with’ Louise – to this day I can still remember feeling the stress and burden of responsibility lift from my shoulders. Over the proceeding 12 years Louise kept mum and I abreast of all that was going on and on the right side of Trust regulations and HMRC. She ‘glued’ everything together for us and provided us with peace of mind that everything was in hand and being looked after. The investments did well and achieved what we’d set out to achieve and the Trusts performed their purpose. My mum passed away last September and Louise liaised with our solicitors in regard to probate and IHT – another thing less for me to worry about.”

“The passing of my mum meant that for the first time in my life I had a reasonably large sum of money which I didn’t know what to do with. It was too much to invest in ‘high street’ products and so I knew it was time for me to appoint a Financial Advisor. A position I never thought I’d be in. Of course Piercefield Oliver were always a strong contender due to the relationship I’d built up with Louise and her team but making a decision was still a big step to take. I did see other Financial Advisors but it became apparent pretty quickly that PO were going to come out tops. Their approach was as it had been 12 years ago; it was more than just about how much your investment could earn and more ‘holistic’ an approach. I was asked many questions from when do you want to cut down your work hours and then retire to what’s on your ‘bucket list’ and when do you want to do these things. From my initial meeting with Louise, to PO’s first outline of ‘next steps’ and what their fees would be, they were transparent and up front. It was all in the planning and I had to do a lot of ‘homework’ to provide Louise and Tammy with all the info they needed to do my initial plan. I’m a very detailed person but I have to say I was impressed – no stone was left unturned – they were extremely thorough. PO presented me with a proposal outlining everything from how much they wanted me to invest, how much I should keep liquid in savings vehicles outside of the investment platform, cash flow plans, pension predictions – you name it their plan included it.”

“I won’t deny that taking the step to invest and getting my head around the annual fees was a bit different to anything I’d done before. I’m still getting used to the idea that my investment will fluctuate up and down but I feel comfortable in the knowledge that Louise and her team will be with me every step of the way and reviewing my plan on a yearly basis. I also place a lot of value in knowing that if I have a major financial event in my life then I can just pick up the phone and the advice from Louise and the team at PO will come. It’s about so much more than getting your money in the right investment vehicle – I hadn’t appreciated that before but I do now. I’ve got a financial plan and structure for the future which will support what I want to do in life and for that I know my mum and dad would be very pleased.”

Piercefield Oliver is a trading name of Piercefield Asset Management Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA register number is 402963. Registered in England & Wales No. 3608688. Registered Office: 105-107 Bath Road Cheltenham GL53 7LE. The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is an agency for arbitrating on unresolved complaints between regulated firms and their clients. Full details of the FOS can be found on its website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

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